


Consolation

by kaydeefalls



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Comfort, Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-01-27
Updated: 2006-01-27
Packaged: 2017-10-09 07:32:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/84570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaydeefalls/pseuds/kaydeefalls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucy misses Aslan. Peter doesn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Consolation

"Peter?" someone whispered urgently. Peter grumbled to himself and buried his head in his pillow. The whisper came again. "Peter, are you awake?"

"I am now," he muttered, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. Through the murky darkness of his and Edmund's bedroom, he could just make out Lucy in her long white nightgown. He was inclined to grouch at her, but her face was tearstained and she just looked so _young_. It had only been a week since they'd reemerged from the wardrobe; how had Lucy slipped so effortlessly back into childhood, as though all of Narnia and their long years there had only been a flight of fancy? Maybe she just always _had_ been a little girl, at heart. And always would be.

Peter got up and glanced over at his brother's bed, but Edmund still slept peacefully. He sighed and gently led Lucy out into the corridor, closing the door behind them. He knelt down to bring his face to her level. "What's the matter?"

She hugged herself tightly. "I dreamt of lions," she said in a small voice. "And then I woke up and I missed Aslan. We're never going to see him again, are we?" Her eyes filled with tears again.

It had been so long since Lucy had been this young and sad; Peter had forgotten how to comfort her. He touched her shoulder awkwardly. "Sure we will, Lu. It's like the Professor said, we'll find our way back to Narnia someday."

"But what if we don't? Or what if we do, and Aslan isn't there anymore?"

Peter didn't know what to say. They all had had similar discussions before, back in Narnia, as the years passed and Aslan never returned. Peter had never understood his younger siblings' impatience and yearning; he'd never felt himself _missing_ Aslan at all. How could he, when Aslan had never really left?

The others didn't get it. They just saw Aslan the lion, in all his kindness and majesty. But that was only a fraction of who and what Aslan really was. Peter understood, with a gut certainty he could never quite put into words. Aslan was everywhere. Peter saw him in the glints of gold splashing along sunlit fountains, in the dappled light sparkling through the trees, in the tawny colors of the autumn leaves. Aslan's presence filled the marble halls of Cair Paravel; his voice spoke in the roaring thunder and sang through the fauns' pipes. How could Peter feel the loss of Aslan, when Aslan filled his whole world, surrounded him with light and beauty and glory?

Even here, in the muted colors and dimmer light of England, Peter could still feel Aslan all around him. The curve of Aslan's sleek mane was painted into the solemn portraits along the corridors of the Professor's house, his warm eyes glowed in every candle, his voice rumbled through the tinny radio. Peter heard him, and felt him, and saw him, and was comforted; he did not need to speak with Aslan face to face to understand that this too shall pass, he'll fit himself back into his too-young body, and adjust the weight of his long years and experiences in Narnia back into the stoop of these shoulders, and live every day of this life as though he were still a king. And someday, he'll hear the lion's roar as though racing towards him from a great distance, and when he opens his eyes he'll be back in Narnia again.

But here and now, he was just an adolescent boy with a young sister to console, so he pulled Lucy into his arms and held her tight and whispered gentle words into her ear. And maybe she saw a bit of Aslan shining through him, because gradually, gradually, she stopped crying.


End file.
